This cake looks way more complicated than it actually is. It’s a boxed cake mix doctored up and filled with a no-bake cheesecake mixture, pudding, cream cheese icing, and lemon pudding accents! So amazing!
I love spring! It is so nice when the kids start going outside to play again, I can start opening up some windows, getting out of the mud, and having sunlight past 5pm.
The trickiest part about this cake is the layering process. But even I – a total cake #fail master, somehow managed to turn it out. You can do this in the full 4-layer massively tall cake that this makes, or you can pare it down to a 3 layer and just eat or freeze the extra layer for a quick dessert later on.
I used one of my giant ring cutters to cut out the middle circle, but it isn’t necessary. You could totally do that with a knife freehand.
Don’t go too crazy trying to get the frosting *perfect*. If that isn’t your thing, just do the best you can. It is still going to be a beautiful cake.
Do you see my other “cheater” spot? Turns out I only had THREE 8-inch cake pans. So I had to use one 10-inch, and trim it down. Do what works, right? It also gave me more scraps to help fend off the kids while I made this.
Also note: You NEED to chill this cake for a while before cutting it and serving it. The cheesecake filling really needs time to set up, or you are going to have a big mess on your hands. I’ll be a big, delicious mess. But still – mess.
Blueberry Pudding Lemon Cake
Doctor up a couple boxes of yellow cake and make one of the prettiest cakes that I've ever personally created. If I can do it, you can TOTALLY do it cause a cake decorator, I am not!
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 boxed yellow cake mixes
- 1 - 5.1 oz box instant vanilla pudding, or cheesecake flavor if you can find it!
- 2 cups milk, whole or 2%
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 7 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 - 5.1 ounce instant vanilla pudding
- 1 - 21 ounce can prepared blueberry pie filling
Icing
- 1 1/2 cups salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups shortening
- 3 pounds powdered sugar
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup cream
- 1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- Purple gel food coloring
Lemon Pudding Accent Icing
- 1 - 3.4 ounce box instant lemon pudding
- 1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 - 2 cups milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350. Prep 4 - 8 inch cake pans with baking spray, and set aside.
- Mix together the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, and eggs included in the cake ingredient list above. Mix for 3 minutes on high speed until the batter is well combined. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs on it. Your oven time may vary, so always start checking about 5 minutes prior to the listed bake time!
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove them from the pans to cool completely.
- Mix together the cream cheese, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and instant pudding mix for about 4-5 minutes, until thickened and completely combined. Set aside.
- Mix together the icing ingredients until well combined and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in food coloring.
- Once the cake is all the way cooled, take one of them and cut a large circle out of the middle, leaving about an inch and a half outside. Place the first cake on your cake plate, and top with a generous layer of icing. Top with another cake layer and more icing. Place the ring of cake on top of the 2nd layer, and scoop in the filling mixture. Leave about a 1/2 inch on top. You may have a bit extra filling. Top the filling with half the blueberry pie filling.
- Cut a thin slice from the top of the circle of the cake that you removed, and place that on top of the pie filling. Cover with more icing and top with the final layer of cake.
- Cover the cake with a crumb coat of icing, and chill for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Remove from fridge and finish icing the cake. Smooth out as best as you can with an offset spatula.
- Combine the lemon pudding accent icing ingredients and mix well for 4-5 minutes until smooth and set up. Start with 1 cup of milk, and add more little bits at a time until it is the thickness you prefer. I like my icing thick and pipable to hold the shape.
- Place the icing into a piping bag with your favorite tip, and decorate as desired. Garnish with more pie filling.
- Chill for 2-4 hours before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1398Total Fat: 70gSaturated Fat: 31gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 34gCholesterol: 183mgSodium: 930mgCarbohydrates: 184gFiber: 1gSugar: 138gProtein: 12g
Nutrition data provided here is only an estimate. If you are tracking these things for medical purposes please consult an outside, trusted source. Thanks!
Want more blueberry and lemon goodness? Check out these recipes from some of my friends!
Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls from Crazy for Crust
Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts from The Recipe Rebel
Mini Lemon and Blueberry Cheesecakes from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Blueberry Lemon Muffins from Sugar Dish Me
Lemon Blueberry Overnight Baked French Toast with Lemon Syrup from Five Heart Home
Lemon Blueberry Dump Cake from Julie’s Eats and Treats
Meyer Lemon Blueberry Waffles from Cooking and Beer
Blueberry Lemon Almond Coffee Cake from Melanie Makes
Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Bread from Deliciously Sprinkled
Mark Alan Jeselnick
Sunday 30th of July 2023
Line 3 of the above instructions, I think the word cook should be cool. Yes, I have made box cakes in my life. Back to the kitchen. Please instruct me to post a family recipe. Your going to flip.
Nicole Johnson
Sunday 30th of July 2023
Good catch! Can't tell how sarcastic or mean you're being with this, but just going to let it ride. This post is one of the oldest on here and it is what it is at this point. Corrected the typo though. ;)
Lynda Hertel
Tuesday 30th of March 2021
Does the ring of cake go second or third? The directions say 3rd but the pictures shows second. Also the video doesn’t show assembly very well.
Nicole Johnson
Tuesday 30th of March 2021
The instructions are correct. Pictured, the filling was in the middle layer, but it'll work better to make it be the top layer instead. Ultimately, you can do it either way and it'll be fine though!
Linda billingsley
Sunday 17th of April 2016
I made your cake today for my sons birthday. Just did the three layer! Awesome!i could not find the video! Beautiful cake!
Nicole Johnson
Monday 18th of April 2016
That's awesome! I'm so glad it worked well for you. Happy birthday to your son!
Lois
Friday 25th of March 2016
Nicole, I'm trying this Blueberry pudding lemon cake for our Easter meal. Yours looks so good. Wish me luck!